Dive Brief:
- Shire will put a massive acquisition strategy on hold while it focuses on integrating its new assets, its CEO told investors Thursday.
- CEO Flemming Ornskov told the Financial Times that Shire's "priority is to get internal growth drivers to succeed."
- Shire launched the $50 billion acquisition strategy about three years ago and has grown into a global drugmaking giant.
Dive Insight:
This sort of a statement from another company might attract more skeptics, but Shire has good reason to turn its attention inward for a while. FT notes that Shire has 14 drugs about to enter or already in late-stage trials, and it's also taken on a lot of debt to acquire companies.
Pausing the acquisition strategy gives Shire the chance to incorporate its new assets and get them contributing more heavily to its bottom line. The announcement also came as Shire announced full-year revenue for 2015 was up 7% over 2014.
Most recently, Shire acquired Baxter spinoff Baxalta in a $30 billion deal, its largest to date.